Crystal Snowflake Science Activity for Kids

When the flakes start flying, get set up to make your very own sparkling, indoor snowflakes. Or maybe you live among the palm tress and dream of gently falling snow. Either way our beautiful crystal snowflakes are easy to make! You can enjoy your crystal snowflake all winter long with our simple borax crystal growing recipe! The perfect winter science activity for homemade kid’s STEM!

NOTE: If you rather not use borax powder to grow crystals, check out our salt crystal snowflakes. This winter science activity is perfect the youngest scientist!

The set up is easy enough and I found the super simple recipe over at Happy Hooligans.Pick up the one necessary ingredient {the other is water} at the grocery store and start bending your pipe cleaners!

CRYSTAL SNOWFLAKE SUPPLIES AND SET UP

Since you are dealing with hot water, my son watched the process while I measured the solution stirred, and poured it. An older child might be able to help a little more! If you need more hands on, choose our salt crystal snowflakes instead.

SUPPLIES

I have added a few supplies from Amazon. We belong to their affiliate program.

Borax {found with laundry detergent}

Water

Jars or vases

Popsicle sticks, string, tape

Pipe cleaners

MAKE YOUR PIPE CLEANER SNOWFLAKES

To make the snowflakes, I cut a couple of pipe cleaners in half and twisted them together to make a snowflake with 6 points which is a traditional snowflake shape! I ended up with a couple extra points.

For the icicles, my son wrapped the pipe cleaner around a marker to make it curl! Whatever shape you make will be great. Check out our crystal gingerbread man we wrapped around a cookie cutter.

Hint: Double check the opening of the jar with the size of your shape! It’s easy to push the pipe cleaner in to start but difficult to pull it out once all the crystals have formed! Attach to popsicle sticks and check length of string.

A good tip is to make sure you have the right string length so that the pipe cleaner is not touching the bottom. Ours touched and although the crystal ornament was fine once gently pulled away, it did stick!

MAKE YOUR CRYSTAL SNOWFLAKE BORAX SOLUTION

The ratio of borax powder to boiling water is 1:1. You want to dissolve one tablespoon of borax powder for each cup of boiling water. This will make a saturated solution which is a great chemistry concept.

You need to boil the water first, so adult supervision is necessary. When water boils the molecules move away from each other. This allows for more borax powder to dissolve.

Once you have filled your containers with the borax solution, hang your snowflakes or icicles inside the jar.

You want to set the jars in a quiet place where they won’t be disturbed. No tugging on the string, stirring the solution, or moving the jar around! They need to sit still to work their magic.

After a couple of hours, we could see some changes. Later on that night we could see more crystals growing! I like to leave the solution alone for 24 hours. Dry on a paper towel.

Make sure to keep checking to see the stage of growth the crystals are in!

CRYSTAL SNOWFLAKES SCIENCE

You read a little bit about saturated solutions and mixtures above when you made the borax solution. Within the liquid there are still large particles that will settle slowly because the water was saturated by the powder. Those particles land on the pipe cleaners and of course the bottom of the jar.

As the water cools, the water molecules return back to their normal state, and this is when the particles start to settle. If the cooling process is to quick or the jars are disturbed, you may end up with irregular shaped crystals. This is because the impurities were not able to separate.

Let your crystals work their magic overnight. We were all impressed by what we saw when we woke up in the morning! Not to mention, we had some really beautiful ornaments for the tree! Or you can hang them in the window like a sun catcher.

Make quick and simple crystal snowflake ornaments and icicle ornaments to hang in your window!

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Comments

I just saw this on Pinterest — and pinned it. This is such a great idea — and so beautiful! I absolutely love the icicles. I’m going to make some with my grandchildren.

I invite you to share this idea at my Party in Your PJs link party on my Grandma Ideas site http://grandmaideas.com. I think that my readers will like this idea as much as I do. Feel free to share a couple more links, too.

My party runs through Sunday night at Midnight. I hope to see you there!

Love these! Can I suggest one change though? Borax can be dangerous for little ones by ingestion (or pregnant women!) so you can use alum instead!! You can get it off Amazon, it’s used in pickling so it’s not as toxic.

I wish more bloggers knew and wrote about the potential hazards of borax!!